COMMERCE CITY — The face of U.S. lacrosse has eye black smeared, a purposely-forgot-to-shave beard and a haircut that’s just weird.

“The mullet-hawk,” Paul Rabil explained Thursday. “(The barbers) don’t want to do it, but I tell them to leave the hair on the top — I don’t care what you think — and give me a star and some stripes shaved on the side.”

I’d never before seen the face of U.S. lacrosse. Some skeptics might say that’s an oxymoron in itself. But look, lacrosse is legit. The world’s best teams are in the Denver area this week, and Rabil might be the best player on the best team. Thursday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Rabil netted a hat trick with two assists in a 22-3 clobbering of Australia (they went for two after the third touchdown). This was the semifinals of the FIL World Lacrosse Championships, and Rabil will be No. 99 in red, white and blue in Saturday’s title game.

Rabil, 28, is one of those dudes who just separates himself. You know those athletes. You could be watching some strange sport for the first time and be like — yep, that guy in the glasses is clearly the best quidditch player out there. Minutes into Thursday’s lacrosse game, Rabil soared before he scored. The 6-foot-3 tree darted toward the goal from the left wing and then just feet from the goalie he faked low and basically just placed the ball over the helpless man’s mask, like an older sibling teasing baby bro in the backyard.

“He wants to be the best ever, and he’s on his way,” said U.S. goalie Jesse Schwartzman, who also plays for the Denver Outlaws. “He’s an animal. And it’s not just the way he plays, it’s the way he trains, it’s the way he practices. He’s the hardest worker I’ve ever been around — in the weight room, on the field, running, reading books, watching film. He’s a super-competitive dude. And he puts the team before everything, and that’s what’s awesome.”

Rabil’s a rebel. He plays brazenly. Lacrosse publications have said he shoots 112 miles per hour and is on pace to be the sport’s first million-dollar player. And that face? He’s lacrosse’s Don Draper. He sort of looks like the “mimbo” from that one “Seinfeld” episode. He had long hair and didn’t care; now he’s got this Mohawk-mullet that we Costanzas couldn’t pull off. His braggadocio is swaggadocio.

“He’s wicked-awesome,” super fan Darci Becker said from the stands. “His speed, he’s got moves, he swims — when he’s being defended, his arm swims right over his defenders and he just gets in there.”

Lacrosse needs this guy. And lacrosse needs this guy out there more. He’s the type of transcendent athlete who can inspire those who admire. He won MVP of this quadrennial tournament in 2010 and very well could win the honors again Saturday. You watch these games at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, thousands of young people in their Such And Such High Lacrosse T-shirts and flamboyant neon shorts, and you know that lacrosse isn’t just this niche thing that the rich kid down the street plays. This is a game for the next generation. But it’s pretty boring on TV. And it’s hard to pick out personality off the screen. Hopefully for this sport, Rabil will be a name we start knowing, a la Clint Dempsey from a month ago.

“Lacrosse is our passion; it’s in our soul,” Rabil, who plays for the Boston Cannons in Major League Lacrosse, said after Thursday’s win for his country. “It’s tough to put into words how this moment feels, this tournament feels, this opportunity feels — it means the world to us. The level of passion this team has, and they way we’ve gone about this whole process, has been nothing short of brilliant.”

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyreek Hill didn’t know what to do when he started hearing thousands of people in Arrowhead Stadium chanting his name, even as he stood all alone on the frozen turf waiting for the punt.